Q. Why is there a higher demand for English-medium education in India? 

A: Yes, there is a very high demand for English-medium education in India, although government schools in many states have emphasised education in one or the other regional language since independence. Over time, it is seen that children are moving to private schools, which provide English-medium education, which, in turn, is the reason for the high demand for private schools in India. Even urban poor and lower-middle-class parents opt for low-fee paying private schools (where teachers are less qualified, and the infrastructure is inadequate). For this reason, government schools in certain states have started ​‘divisions’ for English-medium instruction. It is important to understand the reasons behind this growing demand for English-medium education.

Q. What could be the reasons for this growing demand for English-medium education in India? 

A: Different reasons are suggested in popular and academic discussions. However, in my view, none of these are adequate to explain this phenomenon. For example, there is a view that English is needed to participate in a globalised economy. However, if we analyse the participation in the global economy in a concrete manner, it can be assessed by the share of international trade. In that sense, China is doing much better than India in terms of integration with the global economy. It is not only China but also Japan, South Korea, France, etc., that are doing much better than India in terms of manufacturing products sold in international markets. None of these countries are pushing for the English language in school education. The language of production in factories and other workspaces in these countries is their local languages, and not English. Hence, the need to participate in global markets is not a valid reason for the rising demand for English-medium education in India. 

Similarly, there could be an argument that English is the language of research and innovation. This is also not true. France and other countries in Western Europe, Japan, Korea, and even China, where the medium of school education is not English, are far ahead of India in terms of research and innovation (based on all indicators). This factor has not generated a higher demand for English-medium school education in these countries. 

Q. English is the symbol of development and modernity. People want to gain the benefits of development. Could that be a reason for the high demand for English-medium education? 

A: Not all. There are many developed countries, especially in the European Continent, which do not use English. These include Germany, France, different Scandinavian countries, Switzerland and so on, which have very high per-capita incomes. The majority of their people may not have a high proficiency in English. That is true for Japan, too. If we take the newly industrialised countries in Asia, English is not prominent in Taiwan, South Korea, etc. Latin American countries use Spanish or Portuguese (in Brazil). English is used in Singapore and Malaysia, which were influenced by British colonialism. Hence, the idea that English is required to be developed and rich is incorrect.

Q. Then, is it the impact of colonialism that Indians have a higher demand for English-medium education? 

A: Though there was a demand for English-medium education during the colonial period, that cannot be the reason after independence. Moreover, many state governments took steps to enhance the availability of school education in the regional language afterwards. There was an increase in pride, not only among the leaders, but also the population as a whole, in these regional/​state languages after independence. For a poor family which started sending children to school only in the 1980s-90s (and such families constituted the majority then), one cannot think of colonialism that persisted 50 years ago, influencing their choice of the medium of instruction. 

There could be an argument that English has to be the link language in India, when each state has its own language. However, the European Union is thriving without using English or any one European language as the link language. There must be something else that is tangibly influencing the demand for the English language in India. 

Q. What else could be the main driving force for the increasing demand for English-medium education in India? 

A: We may have to consider certain features of India’s economic growth and development, or the nature of employment opportunities in the country, for this purpose. India has witnessed higher economic growth since the late 1980s. It has also witnessed an increase in opportunities for salaried employment. However, India did not experience a notable growth in manufacturing. Most of the rise in salaried employment was in the service sector. These include those in Information Technology and IT-enabled services, banking and other financial services, education (schools and colleges), etc. These require a certain proficiency in English.

On the other hand, local languages can be used in the manufacturing sector. A typical Chinese factory employing 20,000−50,000 people and producing parts of say iPhone to be sold in the global market can use the Chinese language inside the factory. English is not needed for this purpose. Only a small section of employees who market these products in English-speaking countries may need to know English. All workers in such need to have some level of school education, say to read instructions in factory settings, but that can be in the local language. When most jobs are of this type, a boy or girl from a poor family can expect to get a salaried job without acquiring an English-medium education. 

Q: What about the service sector in China? Doesn’t that require people with knowledge of English? 

A: When we talk about the flourishing of India’s service sector, it does not mean that the Chinese service sector is performing badly. In fact, the size of the Chinese service sector could be few times higher than that of India. However, there is a notable difference between India and China in this regard. The service sector in the latter depends on its domestic economy and domestic industrialisation. Moreover, a greater share of this is also in formal sector organisations. For example, there is a financial sector catering to Chinese people or the hospitality industry catering to citizens and foreigners. If we go to a 3‑star hotel in India, it is likely to have English-speaking receptionists, but that need not be the case in China. However, it is not a serious issue, since a major share of their clientele there may not need English. Even when business visitors or tourists come from English-speaking countries, they may hire interpreters for communication. (A small share of the Chinese may study English, not from schools and colleges but from private communication institutes for this purpose). The absence of widespread use of English will not deter these visitors, as there are other things that attract them to China (including the production of cheap goods). 

Q. However, these are country-level or aggregate factors, and many ordinary people may not be aware of these trends. Hence, these cannot influence the language choice of these people. What concrete factors influence their choice of the medium of instruction? 

A: That is true. What we have described so far is somewhat distant for the common people in India, who want an education for their children in English-medium education. Hence, we have to look at the circumstances faced by these ordinary people. (On the other hand, elites in India may have different reasons to select English-medium education.)

A youngster in India from a poor family who completes school education is confronted with only two employment options: First is agriculture, or less-skilled jobs in construction or other activities carried out by informal organisations; then, they may not have salaried jobs or social security. Second, a salaried job in a formal sector organisation, but most of these are available in the service sector. The first option is definitely inferior, but the second option may require certain proficiency in English. Parents have seen this in their neighbourhoods. Hence, they try to get an English-medium education for their children. Parents who aspire that their children move away from agricultural/less-skilled work, would like them to gain proficiency in English. There are many such parents even among the lower middle-class and poorer sections in India.

Q. We have talked about the situation in school education? What about higher education? 

A: The preference for English-medium education leads to a higher demand for private schools in India. But the situation in higher education is somewhat different. The formal medium of instruction in almost all colleges and universities continues to be English. (Of course, peer and classroom interactions, and instruction may happen in one or the other regional language informally.) This is something interesting. Despite all the pride in the regional language and civil-society movements and governmental efforts towards making the local language the medium of instruction in schools, there have been no such efforts to change the (formal) medium of instruction in colleges and universities in India. This shows the widespread preference for English as the medium of instruction in higher education. However, in such a context, there is no need to select a particular type of higher education institute due to the language preference.

Q. What is wrong with having English as the medium of instruction in schools? What are its implications? 

A: There can be several implications. To a great extent, it can enhance the inequality in educational achievements. We have seen the role of family and socioeconomic conditions in educational achievements. Parents of first-generation learners may have only a few years of education. This affects their school education. This impact becomes severe when the medium of instruction is English, since even those parents who have completed school education in the regional language may not be able to provide academic support to their children at home. This can worsen education inequality.

There is also a perception that it is better if younger children start education in their home language. This may reduce the fear of formal education among children which may not be the case if the medium of instruction is another language.

The situation in India, where the government schools mostly use the regional language as the medium, and the growing preference for English-medium education, can create inefficiencies. It creates a big gap between the expectations of parents and what is provided in government schools. There are government schools with qualified teachers and adequate infrastructure, but these are not used adequately. One can see class-strength declining drastically in these schools in many parts of the country. This reduces the social benefits of public resources used for education. Moreover, many parents use low-fee-paying private schools without enough qualified teachers and adequate infrastructure (say, for sports and other activities). This may lead to a situation where the children of these parents are denied a wholesome education. Only a small share of Indian parents (who are at the top of the income ladder) can afford those private schools which have all the facilities and appropriately qualified teachers. (Getting a salary which is somewhat equal to that in government schools matters in this regard. Even when low-fee-paying schools have qualified teachers, they may not get a salary that is equal to that in a government school, and this can be a major demotivating factor.) This can further widen the inequalities in education.

A serious manifestation of India’s difficulty concerning the medium of instruction is manifested in higher education, which in turn is affecting the school education. As noted earlier, the formal medium in higher education continues to be English, whereas the regional language is used informally. There is ​‘shame’ attached to the use of regional language, and that may be seen at the national level as a reflection of the inadequate capacity of teachers and students. Reputed colleges in metropolitan areas use only English as the medium. For these reasons, India is yet to see the development of learning materials in academic disciplines in regional languages (except in cases where one or the other regional language itself is the academic discipline). There are no good-quality undergraduate or graduate textbooks in maths, physics, other natural sciences, sociology or economics or other social sciences in regional languages (including Hindi, which is used by about 60 percent of India’s population). It is to be noted that Hindi may be spoken by more people than most other countries of the world and a language such as Tamil or Kannada or Marathi is used by a population size that is comparable to that of Germany or France, but none of these Indian languages have quality textbooks on any of these academic disciplines. The preparation of such books was not considered important and hence, efforts were not made in this direction.

This has implications. Even now, the majority of students complete their school education in a regional language, including Hindi. When they transition to college or university, they encounter English-medium textbooks. This itself may be disadvantageous to the majority and is beneficial to the minority of students who have received English-medium school education. This can also widen the educational inequality between the privileged and underprivileged (in terms of the medium of instruction). The use of English-medium in higher education also means that there are not enough good-quality learning materials in regional languages for teacher education in India. The majority of teacher-training colleges may be using regional languages informally (with poor-quality learning materials), with a small number of reputed colleges/​universities using English as the medium of instruction. This can have a negative impact on teacher education. This is how the impact of using English as the formal medium in higher education can have negative impacts on school education, too.

Q. What may be attempted to address the ambiguity and challenges related to the medium of instruction in India? 

A: We have noted that the demand for English-medium education is possibly connected to the way the Indian economy has grown and the nature of employment that is available in the country. It may not be easy to change these factors easily. Hence, the current situation may continue in the foreseeable future. However, certain steps can be taken to reduce the negative impact of this problem. 

Already, a number of state governments have taken steps to start English-medium ​‘sections’ in schools. This is useful to some extent. However, there may be an issue with the quality of English-medium or English-teaching in these schools. In that sense, the situation may not be very different in the majority of private schools, which charge lower fees and hence cannot afford to have teachers who are proficient in English. These indicate a fundamental problem in language teaching in India. What parents want in their children is a certain proficiency in reading, writing and speaking English. There may not be a need for English-medium education for this purpose. School education can be in one or other Indian languages, but English should be taught well so that students acquire a good level of proficiency in the language. Unfortunately, this is not happening in India, and hence there is this rush for English-medium education, and this may not be effective in enhancing language proficiency in the case of most students.

There may have to be steps to improve the quality of teaching English in Indian schools as a language (whether it is used as the medium of instruction or not). This may require drastic improvement in teacher education but that may require time. There may have to be adequate in-service programmes to mitigate, partly, the deficiencies in this regard. There may have to be changes in pedagogic practices also. The purpose of teaching a language should be to achieve a higher level of proficiency in the use of that language for understanding and communication. (We may note that many students are able to understand English but are unable to communicate in it.) There have to be changes in the focus and the pedagogy of teaching English for this purpose.

However, there should be a realisation that the medium of instruction per se is not the reason for the poor quality of education that most Indian students receive (which also reflects in their lower proficiency in English), but other school- and family or socioeconomic factors. Addressing these factors is a lot more important than shifting the medium of instruction to English.

Santhakumar V is a former Professor, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru

Photo
Featured photo credit: Purusottam Singh Thakur, Azim Premji Foundation

Primary reading material

Santhakumar, V. & Wolhuter, C.C. 2020. Language of learning and teaching in South Africa and India: A comparative study. In C.C. Wolhuter (Ed.). Critical Issues in South African Education: Illumination from International Comparative Perspectives from the BRICS Countries. AOSIS Publishing.